Dagon's House

The house (temple) of Dagon refers to temples dedicated to the Philistine god Dagon. The most narratively significant is the temple at Ashdod, where the Philistines placed the captured ark of the covenant (1 Samuel 5:2), only to find the idol of Dagon toppled before the ark repeatedly until the statue was broken. A separate temple of Dagon at Beth-shan (1 Chronicles 10:10) is where the Philistines fastened Saul's head after his defeat at Gilboa. A town called Beth-dagon — "house of Dagon" — is mentioned in Joshua 15:41 (in Judah) and Joshua 19:27 (in Asher), indicating the widespread distribution of Dagon worship across Canaan before and during the period of Israel's settlement.